Just before today’s 5:30 a.m. press event announcing the Golden Globe nominations, a Hollywood Foreign Press Association arranger wearily droned into the microphone, “We’re three minutes away. Can we get talent back in the room, please?” Dude, it’s the Globes: Talent was never in the room. And talent, taste, even the movies themselves seemed to have little to do with the relentless blare of nomination announcements — the Broadcast Film Critics Association Critic’s Choice nominations on Tuesday, the Screen Actors Guild nominations on Wednesday, the Globes this morning — that made every day feel like Christmas. That is, if what was under the tree included several empty boxes and a couple of immaculately wrapped turds.
There are many ways of looking at a Best Actor Oscar race. You can ask yourself who gave the year’s strongest performances. You can think about who’s overdue, who’s surprising, who works the circuit effectively, who exceeds expectations, who elevates his movie the most by his presence in it. But ultimately, the question that decides the nominations is always this one: Who do actors want to vote for?
This year, that may be tough to answer, since Best Actor is shaping up to be an extremely unusual race. In Column A, we have three Goliaths: George Clooney for The Descendants, Leonardo DiCaprio for J. Edgar, and Brad Pitt for Moneyball. And in Column B, we have a whole bunch of Davids. The problem for the Davids is that they’re not Goliaths. The problem for the Goliaths is that voting for Davids is usually a lot more fun.
Where In the World Is Carmen Sandiego? has been optioned by Walden Media as a live-action adaptation for Jennifer Lopez to co-produce and possibly star in. In the new version, top detective Sandiego goes on the run as an alleged thief, and has to be tracked down by her former partner. This is a good time to point out that one fun thing to do, when people ask you what kind of music you like, is to just say, “Rockapella.” Grade: A- [Deadline]
The American remake of science-fiction cyberpunk animated classic Akira is a big expensive project that's been kicking around since the early nineties. And word came out this week that the first two roles have offered — to Gary Oldman and Helena Bonham-Carter. Huh? Other names that have been suggested for starring roles: Garrett Hedlund, Robert Pattinson, Chris Pine, and Justin fucking Timberlake. I am lost. Is this Neo-Tokyo or Neo-Salt Lake City?
While pretty much any schmuck in the greater Pittsburgh area would probably be able to tell you everything there is to know about Christopher Nolan's upcoming The Dark Knight Rises these days, the film's cast can't say a word — if they spoiled anything, the famously secretive Nolan would presumably have them killed. Awkwardly, though, nearly the entire cast of the movie is currently (or was recently) giving interviews in support of other movies, including Gary Oldman (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (50/50), Anne Hathaway (One Day), Tom Hardy (Warrior, which is out today), and Marion Cotillard (Contagion, also out today). Since 2008's The Dark Knight made like a billion dollars, reporters have to ask about Batman. So how best to avoid Nolan's wrath? We've scoured the cast's interviews for their five most effective tactics.
